OHE March 16, 1998 (b)

Spent bad luck day doing an afternoon hike along a trail called "Manana
Ditch" by the HTMC. Had spent the early afternoon watching the flick
"U.S. Marshals" at Signature Theaters at Pearl Highlands Center (good
show, BTW), so a quick shot up to Palisades afterward made sense.
To get to the ditch trail, I headed up Manana for about five minutes and
while still on the paved water tank road, I headed left at the first
powerline tower.

There is a small ironwood grove to pass through and then the trail
descends gradually then steeply through strawberry guava. At one section,
someone has tied a length of green garden hose to assist the descent.

The trail bottoms out at a dry Manana Stream and then ascends the
opposite side of the gulch rather steeply. At one section, a 50-foot
length of rope is tied to a tree as a climbing aid. The trail was very
dry and the footing crumbly.

After climbing out of the gulch, I spent a few minutes looking for signs
of the brushfire that had ravaged the area (and at the time was still
burning, albeit "contained" according to the fire department). From my
locale, I could see signs of the fire far off but it hadn't made its way
nearly as far upridge as I was.

I continued mauka for a few hundred yards and stopped when the trail began
descending into another gulch. Apparently, the route continues its
rollercoaster progression toward the Waiawa prison until meeting with the
Ahern Ditch, a manmade waterway.

I'll return to complete the hike at some point.

==Saturday, 3/14==

With a few members of the HTMC trail clearing crew, I kayaked 2.5 miles
from Heeia Kea Pier to Kapapa Island, a spit of land beyond the sand bar
in Kaneohe Bay. There is actually a loop trail around Kapapa, which if
done at a leisurely pace can be completed in five minutes! Of course, Pat
Rorie could have done it in 2.5. :-)

We were fortunate to have super views toward shore of Ohulehule and
Kanehoalani, made all the better by the sunny, clear day favoring us.

Members of da gang on hand were Grant Oka, his daughter Georgina, Ralph
Valentino, Naomi Nasu, Lita Komura, and my idol, the famous woman hiker
who was dubbed by Ralph on that day, "Famous Woman Kayaker."

For the first time, I had the chance to try out a camelback hydration
system (read: sucking water from a straw) that allowed me to ascend to the
summit in my fastest ever time since I didn't have to stop to pull a
canteen from my pack to drink. Nice. And as Stuart Ball says in his
book, the miles do fly by!

The trail was the texture of dry scalp and I can't recall stepping in a
single mud puddle all day. Waimano Stream was also basically waterless
save for a couple stagnant pools here and about. Just upstream of the
old dam Ken found one filled with prawns. Though the footing is
favorable, a dry trail makes for a rock hard one which means more pounding
thus a greater likelihood of pain. I didn't feel any effects on the
ascent but I was hurting a bit on the return leg.

Prior to the long hike back, I gave thought to making the crossover to
Manana. In fact, I covered about a 15 minute segment toward Manana while
waiting at the summit, with Eleao looming in the distance, beckoning me to
continue onward. But a cloudfree crest turned into a cloud-choked crest in
a matter of 20 minutes, so any inklings about the crossover were
scratched.

The Waimano trail wasn't terribly overgrown except for some spots choked
with scratchy Australian tea. We did what we could to clear these parts,
holding Waimano "tea parties," as it were.

The trail sees a goodly amount of traffic evidenced by the dozen-plus
other folks we encountered during the day. I'm always glad to see other
people out hiking.